Durham exit leaves Onions with a tear in his eye

GRA­HAM Onions has ad­mit­ted that he left Durham with a heavy heart af­ter end­ing his long as­so­ci­a­tion with the club to join Lan­cashire on a two-year deal.

Onions, 35, was un­able to agree terms for a new deal with Durham and was handed a two-year con­tract by Lan­cashire.

Durham had of­fered him a two-year deal as well but the sec­ond year was de­pen­dant on his fit­ness.

Onions, who is also set to do some coach­ing at Lan­cashire, said: “I am hugely ex­cited at the op­por­tu­nity to work with head coach Glen Chap­ple, a fel­low pace bowler who I’ve greatly ad­mired, and join up with Lan­cashire.

“It was an in­cred­i­bly hard de­ci­sion to leave Durham, hav­ing played there for my whole ca­reer and I cer­tainly leave with a heavy heart.

“Lan­cashire has an ex­cit­ing and bal­anced squad, and I can’t wait to play my cricket at a world-class sta­dium like Old Traf­ford. There are some very ex­cit­ing, young bowlers within the squad al­ready and I’m look­ing for­ward to work­ing with them.”

Onions had been with Durham since 2004, lead­ing them to three County Cham­pi­onships, and has taken 518 wick­ets.

Chap­ple said: “We’re de­lighted to strengthen the squad with the sign­ing of Gra­ham. He is a vastly ex­pe­ri­enced bowler who is proven at this level.”

For­mer county cap­tain Will Smith is to re­join Durham from Hamp­shire four years af­ter leav­ing the River­side.